Nirvana in the Strangest Places

Are these people serious? All the ice cream I can eat in forty-five minutes? For just under two dollars? Do they know who I am? Apparently not.

Say Wat?

They say the pun is the lowest form of humor. If that is the case, my travel partner Randal and I have been wallowing in the gutter ever since we discovered that the Khmer word for temple, thus used throughout Thailand and Cambodia, is Wat. I know you see where this is going, but I’ll nudge you along, just because I’ve had a couple weeks of practice and, let’s face it, wallowing is fun.

When traveling and passing one of myriad temples, signs for temples, outlines of temples on the horizon: “Wat’s that?”

“Wat?”

“That.”

“Wat.”

“Right over there, with the spires and decorated roof line.”

“It’s a wat.”

“That’s wat I’m asking. Wat do you think it is?”

“Wat do you think I’m saying?”

“Wait, wat?”

“Exactly.”

“Say wat?”

“WAT!”

“Huh?”

“Wat, are you deaf, or just slow?”

You get the Abbott and Costello idea. Even more amusing when the cab driver gets involved and tries to help.

The list goes on: “Wat are we doing today? Wat’s next? Wat time? Wat will we see there?” Especially fun when the specific wat has a name that we can run with, like the below mentioned Wat Po, which can be slurred into sounding like What For, or What Fo’. See what you can do with that one. Fun, isn’t it?

Big and Buddahful

Here’s Thailand’s largest reclining Buddha, measuring in a 45 meters long. He lives at Wat Po, Bangkok’s oldest temple, which predates the city itself. That he is reclining means that his earthly time, all that sitting and smiling, is at an end; he’s gotten it right and is about to enter Nirvana. I hope Nirvana is large, because this guy is, to put it in perspective, larger than the boat upon which I work and, being made of gold painted plaster covered brick, heavier as well.

Peek-a-Buddah

Sole Man

The soles of his feet are breathtakingly inlaid with 108 mother of pearl depictions of Buddhist holy symbols. The craftsmanship of the work is stunningly intricate. It’s the longest I’ve ever stared at the feet of an inanimate object. It is also, unfortunately, the longest I’ve stood at a choke point and been inundated with a constant flow of tourists. I felt like a rock in the middle of an Asian salmon stream.

Lucky Rain

The building wall that runs along the Buddha’s backside is lined with 108 metal bowls that, if a small coin worth about a penny is placed in each, provide the depositor good luck. There are enough bowls and enough people seeking good luck that the sound of metallic rainfall is an eerie constant while gazing at this religious marvel.